A common method of affixing demountable predecorated gypsum wallboard to a metal framework, in constructing a hollow interior partition wall, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,245,448, wherein a small metal plate with bent-out, sharp, piercing tangs is affixed to a wallboard back face by driving the tangs through the wallboard back face paper, into the interior gypsum core, in a manner similar to a gang nail plate being affixed to a wooden rafter.
These gang nail plates are somehwat expensive, they must be handled separately and delivered to the building contractor separately, they must be affixed to the wallboard by the builder as a separate time consuming step, and their use involves the possibility of the builder applying the clips in the wrong position or in a manner which damages the wallboard. Once affixed to a wallboard, the plates create a problem, by their thickness, rigidness and small size, when a large number of such wallboards are demounted and stacked prior to reconstructing the wall in a new location, since the plates tend to damage wallboards when stacks are high enough to place great weight on the boards near the bottom of the stack.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,810,597 discloses an elongate metal strip which is attached, by tangs or nails or screws, to the back face of a wallboard in a factory. The metal strip includes a plurality of tongues which extend outward in position to cooperate with a plurality of openings in the face of a specially adapted metal stud.
This metal strip is also somewhat expensive, and presents the problem of damage possibly occurring to the wallboard as the strip is being fastened to the wallboard. This strip would also create a problem in stacking the boards, after manufacture in the factory, or after demounting of the wallboards for relocating the wall, due to the protruding tongues.